The Quickening (episode)
For the disease from which this episode takes its name, see Teplan blight. Bashir works to rid a planet of a plague that was sent by the Dominion as punishment for resistance. Summary In the wardroom. Major Kira and Chief O'Brien examine the replicator as Quark enters, followed closely by Odo. Quark benignly asks what the problem is and Kira shows him an advertisement for Quark's Bar on the monitor. Although Quark doesn't see anything wrong with it, Odo reminds him such tampering is a class 3 offence. Before they can proceed, an angry Worf enters and approaches Quark accusingly. He shows a mug in which his prune juice came from the Defiant's replicator: It is a similar advertisement, and when Worf turns the mug sideways, it repeats the jingle from the monitor. Kira impatiently warns Quark to fix the replicators by the time she returns from the Gamma Quadrant. Jadzia, Julian and Nerys intercept a distress signal while on a survey mission in the gamma quadrant. They divert to a planet, near the border of Dominion space, and find the population is infected with a genetically engineered plague called "the blight", planted by the Dominion as punishment for their lack of loyalty. The plague manifests as a sign on the face, made of protruding veins. At some time during the inhabitants' life, the sign turns dark, the plague becomes acute, and the person dies with great pain. This is called "the quickening". The inhabitants had come to accept the plague as incurable, and had developed hospitals to administer a poison to quickened patients. Jadzia finds the automated distress beacon which had been operating for over 200 years. Julian recommends to leave the planet when a pregnant woman requests their help. Nerys leaves Jadzia and Julian on the planet to hide the runabout in a nebula from a Jem'Hadar patrol with instruction from Julian to return in one week. Bashir set out to find a cure, but he finds very little support from the inhabitants. At first, only the pregnant woman supports him, but he starts working and convinces some more people to cooperate by allowing him to take tissue samples while allowing the blight to follow it's course. After some days of work he thinks he has found a cure, but after administering it the virus mutates and most patients die in great pain. He accepts he has been arrogant in pretending to cure the virus in only a few days, and decides to stay longer on the planet, while Jadzia and Nerys return to DS9. The pregnant woman is the only one still accepting to be his patient. She also becomes acute, and they agree to carry on the pregnancy for two weeks, when the child will be old enough to survive. She also accepts to limit the amount of pain killers she takes to avoid endangering the baby. When she finally gives birth, they are surprised to discover the baby has no sign on his body, which means he is free from the plague. The cure Julian had administered was actually a vaccine, preventing the transmission of the plague from mother to child. The local doctor, who had strongly resisted Bashir's attempts to find a cure, gladly accepts to take charge of disseminating the vaccine to all pregnant women. The plague will then be gone in a generation's time, but all the living people on the planet are doomed. Back on DS9, Bashir is congratulated by Captain Sisko, but he is not satisfied, and is still running simulations trying to find a cure. Background Information * The working title of this episode was "The Healing Touch". * This was the only DS9 episode to be rated "15", when it was released on VHS in the UK. * This episode gives some insight as to how civilians are punished on Deep Space Nine. For tampering with the station's computer systems, Quark faces a fine from "the Magistrate". Links and References Guest Stars * Ellen Wheeler as Ekoria * Dylan Haggerty as Epran Special Guest Star * Michael Sarrazin as Trevean Co-Stars * Heide Margolis as Norva * Loren Lester as Attendant * Alan Echeverria as Tamar (credited as "Patient") * Lisa Moncure as Latia References biogenic weapon; Boranis III; class-3 offense; Dominion; hematology; Jem'Hadar attack ship; Jenkata Nebula; Kukalaka; Obatta Cluster; "Quickening"; suicide; Teplan system; Teplan; Kendi; Gavara system; Gavara; |next= }} Quickening, The de:Hoffnung es:The Quickening nl:The Quickening